The Maturity Matrix is an organisational assessment aimed at stimulating practice-led quality improvement in primary care. To allow this assessment tool to be implemented in different primary care contexts across Europe an international version has been developed and is now being tested in a collaboration between Cardiff University, the European Association for Quality in General Practice (EQuiP), and the Centre for Quality of Care Research (WOK) in Nijmegen.  It had been translated and tested in the following countries: Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Kosovo, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, The Netherlands, United Kingdom in 2007-2008. 

 

The IFPMM is a method to facilitate organisational development using group-based formative assessment and benchmarking. The IFPMM instrument is copy-right free and can be accessed by registering a username and password on the website. On receipt of an activation code and activating your account you can download the IFPMM instrument in the language of your choice. Currently, the IFPMM is available in Albanian, Croatian, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

• Facilitating organisational development using a group-based formative assessment and benchmarking method: design and implementation of the International Family Practice Maturity Matrix (2010)

The EPA instrument is an internationally standardized and validated instrument for assessing practice management in primary care practices. It was developed by an international group of researchers, linked to EQuiP, and the Bertelsmann Foundation, Gütersloh Germany. The EPA indicators have been developed in an international study (2001-2004). The national implementation of EPA lies within the responsibility of the individual countries. During the pilot study 50 practices were included for each country.

 

Since the pilot study, EPA was used in the following countries: Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Slovenia, and Switzerland. Furthermore Romania as a new country has started a pilot study using EPA and several more new countries think of using EPA, or already made project plans (e.g. Saudi Arabia and Qatar).

 

• Quality Management in Primary Care: European Practice Assessment (2005)
• European Practice Assessment - Results from the evaluation studies (2011)
• European Practice Assessment (EPA): Practice Assessment and Quality Management With Indicators That Matter (The World Book of Family Medicine – European Edition 2015)